The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus including an air duct that forms a channel for air to cool an internal device.
An image forming apparatus which forms an image on a sheet member, such as a copy machine and a printer, is known. Within such a type of image forming apparatus, various members that become heat sources are provided. Examples of such members include a heating device for melting toner, and a motor for driving a roller or the like. Due to these heat sources, the temperature within the image forming apparatus increases. The increase in the temperature within the image forming apparatus causes, for example, a decrease in the flowability of a developer such as toner, a decrease in an electric charge amount of the developer, or a variation in a sheet conveyance speed due to expansion of a roller, resulting in an image defect. Thus, hitherto, in the image forming apparatus, a cooling device for sending air to the interior of the image forming apparatus to cool the interior is provided. The conventional cooling device includes an air duct for passing air blown from an air blower, and the air is sent from the air duct toward an object to be cooled, thereby cooling the object.
In addition, the conventional image forming apparatus includes a control board, a power supply board, and the like. The control board has electronic devices such as a CPU to control the image forming apparatus, and the like, mounted thereon, and the power supply board has a power module such as a converter, a transformer, and a transistor, mounted thereon, and each board generates heat when supplied with power. These boards are typically fitted to a support plate provided in the image forming apparatus.